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ICC CRICKET WORLD CUP

February 27, 2015

AB de Villiers

SYDNEY, NEW SOUTH WALES

Q. AB, did you feel momentum in your bones today?
AB de VILLIERS: Yeah, look, to be honest with you I wasn't thinking about that later while we were playing today, but like I said in the prematch presser, I did take note of his points and had a nice chat to the guys before the start of this game, and I really felt the guys were motivated today to play some good cricket. It's great to see the team like that, hustling around, and you could see their guys were almost like open, ready to fight. It's a great turnaround after the disappointing loss at the MCG.

Q. AB, you must be very pleased with the new players that came in and everybody making an impact?
AB de VILLIERS: Yeah, very happy, especially Rilee today. I thought he was the guy who started everything for us in the middle of the innings there. He played with a lot of intensity, a lot of energy. I was feeding off him to start off with, and yeah, so a lot of credit has got to go to him. But very happy with everyone's performance, Kyle Abbott starting off amazingly well, getting Chris Gayle out early on, swinging the new ball. Just looks like a really experienced bowler out there. It he looks like he knew that he was doing, and that's just great to see. Who else? That's about it. Hashim looked really good, actually. He asked me if he should be taking the ones and getting on strike, and I said, listen, just play your game and the next thing he went for six to show what he's capable of. I feel he's going to play a big role in this tournament still, and we all know what he can do.

Q. AB, obviously as I suppose a cricketer and a professional when you're out in the middle and you're batting you've got to take every advantage you can, but sitting here after the game do you feel at all for Jason Holder and as a young captain the difficulty of his situation, I suppose?
AB de VILLIERS: Look, with while we're playing, it's definitely not something you think about. He's actually a really nice guy, so yes, we've all been there. I've been there before in my career, as well. I think every captain goes through really tough games. I think that it was a really tough game for him today, but we had a tough game in the last one at Melbourne. That's part of the game. I know for sure that he's mature enough to handle it. He's got enough teammates with experience around him to look after him, and there's no doubt that the West Indies will bounce back. They're a classy unit and still a very dangerous team in this tournament.

Q. AB, how do you know when it's time to just go like you did? What gives you the indication that I'm going to get some really big runs here? Is there something in you that just says, okay, it's time to go?
AB de VILLIERS: Not really. I think what happens, it's just assessing the situation of the game consistently, constantly. Rilee played a big part today in me getting off my feet. I didn't feel too well when I was walking out to bat, really flat, and he had a lot of energy about him, a lot of intensity. He was getting into really good positions, making it look flat out there, which wasn't the case the previous 10, 15 overs. So I fed a lot off him, like I mentioned before, and I can't remember when it happened, but we were getting a lot of momentum behind us at a really quick pace. That just helped a lot. We always felt like we wanted to be there about the 45th over, both of us, or one of us at least, so having a go at the bowlers and trying to up the run rate was never part of the plan, it just happened because we are really aggressive players. We like to be busy at the crease. We ran really well, a lot of twos, and I think all of that together just helped in me having a go.

Q. Do you see a bit of yourself in Rilee when he plays?
AB de VILLIERS: In Rilee? Absolutely, yes. He's a very competitive individual. I'm also quite competitive, even though I don't always show it. We play little football games for warmups, and he's one of those guys you don't want to be around when it gets tense. He's very, very competitive. I like to see that. He gets in good positions, especially at the crease. You know if you don't get him out you're in trouble as a bowling unit. I just like the look of him.

Q. Rilee and Kyle both put their hands up today, having given their first run in the tournament. Your thoughts?
AB de VILLIERS: Yes, they did. It would be difficult to leave them out in the upcoming games, so it's great for the team. Look, the ideal position you want to be in is 15 guys in good form. We're not far away from that, so it's all good signs for us moving forward.

Q. What goes through your mind at the end when you're swinging and every ball seems to come off the middle of the bat and find their way over the boundary?
AB de VILLIERS: It actually wasn't going off the middle of the bat, not all of them. Look, you get into that kind of mode, it doesn't happen very often, and it's quite a good feeling to sort of feel that you're one step ahead of the bowlers. I think that's the main thing. You get a really good gut feel for what they're trying to do, and I guess that's part of cricket; you work really hard to get yourself in, then you work really hard to get some momentum behind you, and then you've earned the right to sort of take a bit of control of the game, and sometimes it goes your way, sometimes it doesn't. They had some drops a few times today, which meant that I could really free up at the end and dominate a bit.

Q. I know it's a little bit off topic, but there's a bit of sentiment at that time about the number 408 which you posted and Phil Hughes' plaque there outside the dressing room. Did you take notice of any of those numbers?
AB de VILLIERS: I must admit, I did think of him when I walked out on the park today. Yeah, it's difficult to comment on that. We all know what happened. But at the very least we did pay respect within our team, in our group. But I didn't know about the numbers. What can I say? Just a memory of him, obviously. I don't know what else to say, sorry. Loss for words. But I didn't know about that, but we did think of him when we were walking on. That's the most important thing.
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